Forget-Me-Not: Taste of Freedom

Chapter Thirty One

(Video link on top: Pehli  baar, from Dil Dhadakne Do. It seemed like a pretty appropriate song for Vidhi and Abhay. Enjoy reading!)

Chapter Thirty One

It was nine o'clock. Geet didn't remember how much she'd had to drink. She only remembered that she felt really light and giddy and dizzy, and that she was having a lot of fun dancing. Vidhi and Dia and were there, right in the center with her, surrounded by the crowd. They'd come out to a local dance bar to celebrate being together. Well, not about what happened with Dia and Varun, of course. That shouldn't have happened. But tonight was about the three of them, and they wanted it to be that way. It could easily become the happiest night of her life. She'd never felt so free before. She'd never thought she could leave her children with Dia's in-laws without being worried to hell. She'd never thought she could leave Gautam's house and live on her own, start up her own work. But she'd done all that. And for doing that, she deserved this trip. She deserved every smile, every moment of fun and laughter she'd had tonight.

"Whoo!" she shouted, to no one in particular, and swung her arms around. The thumping bass of the dance number made her blood surge and pound. Her body moved in rhythm to the music, without any efforts on her part. From somewhere, she could hear Dia's voice calling her. Geet looked around, her head spinning and her vision blurred, and then spotted her friend coming towards her.

"There you are!" Dia slurred, just as drunk. "Come on, let's dance!"

They let out another whoop, and climbed up on the platform, swinging their hair and moving their bodies. She couldn't describe how funny it made her feel. She giggled, holding onto Dia's hands, and they both laughed at each other. All that laughter, all that happiness somehow reminded her of things she'd left behind in Mumbai. Geet thought about Gautam, about missing him terribly, and wondered what he was doing. Then a thought entered her mind: my phone! She looked at Dia, realized that she was far too drunk to realize if someone would sneak their hand into her pants pocket. Geet tried to do the exact thing, but failed the first few times. However, When Dia fell down, surprising the few people around them, Geet helped her up and pulled her phone out from Dia's pocket. Then with a big smile and a pat, she slinked away from her friend.

She was sweating profusely, was the first thing she realized when she stopped by the bar counter to check her phone. Her fingers shook slightly, and her knees felt like lead. As she scrolled through her call logs, Geet saw that there were tons of missed calls from Gautam, and a couple of messages.

'Where are you?'

'Call me ASAP. Where the hell are you?!'

The third one was in shouty capitals. 'CALL ME BACK, DAMN IT.'

Oh god, she thought to herself. Was he angry? Shaking her head, she pressed the call button, and kept the phone to her ear. Her fingers traced patterns on the bar-table top as she waited for him to answer. But it didn't take long; Gautam's voice filled her ears, more pleasant than the music, more intoxicating than any amount of alcohol she could ever consume.

"Geet, where are you? Do you have any idea how worried I've been?" he demanded.

"S-sorry," she slurred. "It happened so last minute." The she giggled. "God. You won't believe what happened."

"What happened?"

"I'm in Goa," Geet whispered, then pressed on finger to her lips. "Shhh!"